$89 pizzas a hot seller for Ganja Gourmet

[6souls]

What do you get when you mix the culinary skills of Emeril Lagasse with a favorite ooey-gooey treat of the 70s (AKA pot-laced brownies)? The Ganja Gourmet, of course.

Now those with a prescription for cannabis don't have to limit their choices to smoking or brownies. A Denver entrepreneur has opened a medical marijuana eatery named Ganja Gourmet.

And that's not the only place those in and around the mile-high city can go for marijuana-infused foods like pizza, hummus and lasagna. A Caribbean restaurant across town has plans to hold classes on sprinkling, dashing and pouring a bit of mellowing weed into multi-course meals.

Sun-loving Southern Californians can tune into a low-budget TV show called "Cannabis Planet" for tips to cook with marijuana and create mouth watering and munchie-inducing dishes like teriyaki chicken, shrimp capellini and steak sandwiches.

Ironically, some say these establishments are good for curbing obesity. After all, teriyaki chicken can have a lot less fat than brownies. Marijuana meals, some say, are also better on your respiratory health since you're not smoking -- and thus inhaling.

"When I started using marijuana, I was eating a brownie every day. I gained a ton of weight," Michael DeLao, a former hotel chef who hosts the "Cannabis Planet" cooking segments on Los Angeles' KJLA told the Associated Press. "Then I learned how to really cook with marijuana, and once more people learn about all the possibilities, we're going to see a lot more people wanting this in their food."

Just don't get any ideas of strolling into the Ganja Gourmet and ordering one of their pot pizzas. To get served, you've got to show a medical marijuana card proving a doctor says pot can cure whatever happens to ail you.

"I wish there were restaurants like this throughout the country," says Wayne Shepard who holds a prescription for marijuana. "It could help ease the suffering for many dealing with cancer, AIDS and other illnesses."

Unlike a box of brownie mix, one of Ganja's pizzas will set you back a few coins, $89 to be exact. "It's not like you'd eat the whole thing in one sitting. You can have leftovers," says Shepard. But since an ounce of marijuana is said to cost anywhere from $100 to $500 an ounce, depending on strength, taste and patient preference, $89 can seem like a bargain.

There's no worries that stopping by Ganja Gourmet will lead to eating your way to the poorhouse, either. Marijuana chefs say it takes anywhere from 20 minutes to two hours for the munchies (and other side effects) to kick in. So it's unlikely patrons will overeat because they're high. Although, just like pizza (and other food) that's not laced with pot, pigging out can result in an upset stomach or feeling sluggish.

Ganja has its patrons safety in mind, too. Munchers are only allowed to eat one menu item every 45 minutes and patrons
are offered a ride home if they need one.

The medicinal use of drugs isn't new. LSD has been recently looked to as a cure for cluster headaches. And neither is Ganja's idea.

Recently a "Cannabis Cafe" opened in Portland, Ore., where approved medical marijuana patients pay $25 per month and can smoke marijuana in the club. 'Budtenders' serve food, non-alcoholic drinks, and free marijuana to club members.

http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/1...ganja-gourmet/
http://originalganjagourmet.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeKqcxS7GKQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tBRT6x1ka0

Spoiler: show

LSD: A cure for headaches?

Get your tie-dyed t-shirts ready. The 1960s are making a comeback.

It seems psychedelic drugs like LSD, cannabis and Ecstasy just might really have some medicinal purposes after all. Scientists are looking to these drugs to help sufferers of anorexia nervosa, cluster headaches and chronic anxiety attacks.

One 35-year-old British University lecturer says she relies on biannual doses of LSD to control her drinking problem. She credits LSD with increased self-confidence as well as the ability to stay smoke-free and sober.

Too good to be true?

Critics argue users are merely swapping one drug for another and chalk up the "cure" as nothing more than being too high to feel pain. "As a former drug user, it sounds like an excuse to get high," says former addict Leslie Durkin (whose name has been changed).

But distinguished academics and widely respected institutions are giving drugs like LSD a closer look.

Harvard medical school psychiatrist and researcher Dr. John Halpern discovered that nearly all of the 53 people with cluster headaches who took LSD, or psilocybin, the active compound in those trippy little mushrooms, experienced relief of their symptoms. Now Halpern is researching whether 2-Bromo-LSD, a non-psychedelic version, will produce the same pain-stopping results.

The international appeal

LSD is garnering attention as having medicinal purposes in international arenas, too. Scientists across the pond are exploring the benefits of LSD -- a phrase that warms the hearts of most hippies. And not to be outdone, Swiss researchers are using the drug in combination with psychotherapy to treat terminal patients experiencing end-of-life anxiety. "If you handle LSD with care, it isn't any more dangerous than other therapies," said Dr. Peter Glasser, the psychiatrist leading the Swiss trial.

Nothing new

LSD's purported benefits aren't a new concept. In the 1950s and 1960s, researchers explored possible uses of psychedelics--in some cases using them to treat anxiety, depression, and yes, ironically, addiction. But the mainstream backlash to the hallucinogen put a stop to the research in the more conservative 1970s.

In the U.S., LSD is Schedule 1, according to the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. That makes it illegal to produce, possess or purchase it without a DEA license.

Regardless of its legal status, psychedelics are offering many hope. "I've had cluster headaches for over 10 years. If my doctor prescribed it, I'd certainly be willing to try LSD," says Marina Baldwin, an advocate of legalizing medicinal use of recreational drugs.

Even if LSD and other recreational drugs aren't legalized, scientists are hopeful that what they learn about how LSD works will lead to the development of similar, legal drug therapies.

If your doctor suggested it, would you be willing to try LSD to treat a chronic condition? Do you think certain psychedelics should be legalized?

http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/1...for-headaches/

[Ramor]

if pot is ever legalized then pot-laced food restaurants will make so much god damn money

[Cephius]

Just another thing for Conservatives to take away from us.

In be4 lief, egon, swampy

[Zoolander]

Wow lol, this is fucking genius.

[Heavencloud]

sounds like a good deal to me

[Yuri-G]

having smoked for years and never had a good experience with pot food, I support this.

[Atreides]

the only problem with cooking with pot yourself is you need a dedicated set of cooking utensils because they will smell FOREVER no matter what you do, so this is a great idea

[LinktheDeme]

I forsee people doing this retarded as an example and just sprinkling weed on the top of the pizza and then eating it.

[Ksandra]

Even though I've never smoked;

Wow lol, this is fucking genius.

^ completely true.

[Cyn]

Even though I've never smoked

O.O

I wonder how many people there are in America past the age of 18 who have never tried marijuana at least once.

[kuronosan]

O.O

I wonder how many people there are in America past the age of 18 who have never tried marijuana at least once.

Moi.

[Yuri-G]

I forsee people doing this retarded as an example and just sprinkling weed on the top of the pizza and then eating it.

that shit is inefficient... weed needs to be cooked in oily/fatty foods for best absorption. plus it would just taste nasty.

I've heard cooking it with butter, then throwing out the pot (optional, but might improve the flavor/texture) and using the butter in a meal gets great results.

[Jefe]

O.O

I wonder how many people there are in America past the age of 18 who have never tried marijuana at least once.

Actually there are a bunch of us ;o

[Cantih]

O.O

I wonder how many people there are in America past the age of 18 who have never tried marijuana at least once.

/

[Plow]

the only problem with cooking with pot yourself is you need a dedicated set of cooking utensils because they will smell FOREVER no matter what you do, so this is a great idea

I made biscuits and gravy from scratch not too long ago, and used some extremely good, extremely strong smell/taste pot (like... can't use it for cooking usually, it ruins most stuff) to make the bacon grease base of the gravy "good."

Didn't leave a smell at all, and man that shit was fantastic.

Gives a whole new meaning to wake & bake, too. lol


Really though proper cleaning should eliminate the smell just fine, it's no different than any other food, really.


But yeah, cooking with pot is great, you just have to a. learn how to do it, and b. not try stupid shit with it unless you've got a ton of weed to waste lol. I wasted a decent bit of that same dope trying to make some beef barley stew with it (which basically requires leaving some in), shit was terrible lol.

I've heard cooking it with butter, then throwing out the pot (optional, but might improve the flavor/texture) and using the butter in a meal gets great results.

That's pretty much the whole idea, although it doesn't have to be butter. You cook it in basically any fat to ~225 degrees, then take the bud out (some people will still smoke that, I toss it), and use the oil which is now full of activated thc to do anything from butter toast (pot garlic bread mmmmm) to baking a cake/brownies to, as I mentioned, making gravy.

Hell, if you're crazy enough you could pretend you're in the great depression and do it with butter or vege oil (or lard, if you really want to get into the history lol ;p) and make chocolate gravy. Scoop that shit on some sweet muffins or yellow cake or whatever, mmmmmmmmm good.

[Zoolander]

I made biscuits and gravy from scratch not too long ago, and used some extremely good, extremely strong smell/taste pot (like... can't use it for cooking usually, it ruins most stuff) to make the bacon grease base of the gravy "good."

Didn't leave a smell at all, and man that shit was fantastic.

Gives a whole new meaning to wake & bake, too. lol

Lmao, awesome quote. And wow @ all the people claiming they've never even tried pot...

[Cyn]

Yeah but you guys are VIDEO GAME NERDSSSSS.

No but seriously, I think the percentage of people who have tried it even once would really shock some people.

[Pikarya]

Never smoked, just got a contact high which doesn't count. Sounds delicious though.

[Bipolargod]

O.O

I wonder how many people there are in America past the age of 18 who have never tried marijuana at least once.

/

[Norellicus]

O.O

I wonder how many people there are in America past the age of 18 who have never tried marijuana at least once.

/